1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule endoscope device that is put into a living body and acquires in-vivo images of a living tissue.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of endoscopy, swallowable capsule endoscopes have been developed. Such a capsule endoscope has an image capturing function and a radio function, and has a function in which, after being swallowed by a patient for observing the body cavity, the capsule endoscope moves through the internal organs, such as the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine, by peristalsis of the internal organs and sequentially captures images until it is naturally excreted from the human body.
Japanese Laid-open Patent publication No. 2006-524097 describes an in-vivo imaging device that, during an image capturing period, turns on a light source, records the amount of light reflected to the imaging device, and controls the gain level of an image of an imaging unit.
Japanese Laid-open Patent publication No. 2005-73887 describes a radio object in-vivo information acquiring device in which a distance sensor detects the distance from the object and determines that the capsule endoscope has been swallowed into a subject when the distance is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value and then switches on a sub-switch, thereby collecting images while reducing waste power consumption.
Japanese Laid-open Patent publication No. 2006-509574 describes a system for in-vivo sensing that includes an in-vivo state tester, such as an in-vivo pH tester, and that changes the operation mode according to the in-vivo state that is acquired by the in-vivo state tester.